The penalty kick shootout in last month’s World Cup final ended in heartbreak for the United States, but soccer’s pressure-packed tiebreaker turned out a lot better for the Western New York Flash in today’s WPS Championship Game. The Flash and Philadelphia Independence played to a 1-1 draw through regulation and 30 minutes of overtime, but goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris made a diving, one-handed deflection on Philly’s final shooter, Laura del Rio, to give WNY a 5-4 win and Women’s Professional Soccer crown.

“After the year I’ve had and being with the U.S. team and not making the World Cup team, it’s such a good feeling,” said Harris, 25, the WPS Goalkeeper of the Year who felt responsible for letting Philly tie the match in the 87th and force OT. “It feels like everything was worth it and it was all meant to be.”

The entire organization probably feels the same way. It was a storybook ending for WPS expansion club, which made the jump last fall after winning the mostly amateur W-League, to try its luck as a pro squad. The Flash are based in Buffalo, but played its 10 home matches at Sahlen’s Stadium and led WPS in attendance. A Rochester pro soccer team hasn’t won a championship since the last of the Rhinos’ four in 2001.“To win it this way is just an unbelievable feeling,” said Flash coach Aaran Lines, who played for the Rhinos in 2006-07.Saturday’s crowd of 10,461 was the third most for any non-doubleheader in the league’s three-year league’s history and a record for its title game, topping the 7,218 in 2009 in Los Angeles.

Harris ended up the hero. Earlier she felt like the goat. The Flash went ahead in the 64th minute on a 16-yard shot by game MVP Christine Sinclair, the star forward who had her own bit of World Cup heartbreak after Canada went winless, but Philly stunned the Flash on Amy Rodriguez’s second-chance effort that tied it in the 87th minute.“That goal would have haunted me, for sure,” Harris said.

Danesha Adams’ 10-yard shot hit the right post and the ball glanced off the face of a sprawled out Harris. Rodriguez was at a tough angle right of goal and after passing up a similar chance in the 53rd minute when Harris’ charged out, forcing her wide, this time A-Rod shot. She found a small gap, beating Harris on the near post, a no-no for keepers.“That late in the game I started taking a little more risk for myself,” said Rodriguez, a member of the U.S. World Cup squad. “I think (coach) Paul (Riley) wanted me to be a little more selfish.”

Adams scored the winner in the 90th minute in Rochester on June 12, handing WNY its first loss of the year. Philly was the only team to beat the Flash, winning two of three matchups.The final was far from an offensive showcase it could have been with attack-minded players such as Marta and Alex Morgan for the Flash and Philly’s Veronica Boquete, the WPS Player of the Year. The Flash, which set a WPS record averaging 2.2 goals per game, were held to one shot in the first half. They led 14-2 in corner kicks, but failed to generate much off them.

“It’s your typical final. Very rarely are they pretty games,” Sinclair said. “Players are trying not to make that big mistake.”

Beverly Goebel nearly ended it in stoppage time before OT, but the second-half sub’s volley off Marta’s cross hit the bar. WNY had to play the final 12 minutes of 30 in OT a player short after Goebel got her second yellow card, meaning an ejection. Goalie Nicole Barnhart saved Nicole Barnhart saved Philly in the final minute of OT, making a one-handed stop on Caroline Seger’s header, then A-Rod missed wide on an open look from 16 yards.After the first nine shooters converted on PKs – working on them for 10 straight practices paid off for the Flash because Marta, Sinclair, McCall Zerboni, Seger and Yael Averbuch were clinical – Harris made the biggest save of her two-year career.

She nearly made a save on Philly’s third shooter, Leigh Ann Robinson, but the ball hit her arm and rolled in. She was fully airborne and extended on del Rios’ shot.“She was my first signing for this club. I’m over the moon for the girl,” Lines said. Harris wouldn’t say if she guessed which way to dive or she picked up a read on del Rio. Goalies don’t tell, she said, smiling.

“I tell you what, I’ve got to choose one right way and make that save and that’s what I did,” Harris said.

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Jeff DiVeronica has covered professional soccer and the Rhinos for the Democrat and Chronicle since the team's inception in 1996. "Devo's Direct Kicks" takes aim mostly at Rochester soccer, but will also highlight the USL, MLS and U.S. national team play. Devo, his nickname since college at St. John Fisher, also hosts two weekly radio shows each Saturday on WHTK-AM/FM (1280/107.3 or www.whtk.com). "Kick This!" (11 a.m.) features soccer talk, while the Canandaigua National Bank High School Sports Show (noon) covers Section V sports. E-mail Jeff at jdiveron@DemocratandChronicle.com.
Or follow him on Twitter: @RocDevo